Contacts

On 21 July 2017, the China Economy Program within Crawford School, in collaboration with the Rio Tinto–ANU China Partnership, will present the 17th annual China Update. At this annual event, leading academics, policymakers and government representatives discuss the latest research on the Chinese economy. Over the years, the China Update has cemented its status as Australia’s premier forum for in-depth discussion and analysis of the Chinese economy.

China’s efforts in searching for new sources of growth are increasingly pressing given the persistence of the growth slowdown in recent years. This year’s Update elucidates key present macroeconomic challenges facing China’s economy in 2017, and the impacts and readiness of human capital, innovation and technological change in affecting the development of China’s economy. The Update explores the development of human capital as the foundations of China’s push into more advanced growth frontiers. It also explores the progress of productivity improvement in becoming the primary mechanism by which China can sustain economic growth, and explains the importance of China’s human capital investments to success on this front. This year demonstrates that technical change is a major contributor to productivity growth; and the invention and innovation are increasingly driving technical change but so far lumpily across regions, sectors and invention motivations.

Speakers include Professor Ross Garnaut (University of Melbourne), Professor Yiping Huang (Peking University), Professor Wing Thye Woo (UC Davis) and Professor Xiaobo Zhang (Peking University), as well as representatives from the RBA, private industry and ANU China experts. The 2017 China Update keynote address will be made by the World Bank Country Director for China, Mongolia and Korea, Mr Bert Hofman.